What astonishes me the most about her is how versatile she is. She can channel Fujimoto, Takahashi or Matsuura effortlesly and sing almost any kind of songs. And she's only 14! Imagine what she'll get to once she passes puberty.

I may take up a residence in this thread. Pegged her as my new favorite the moment I laid eyes on her...after my slight hiatus from the group. Working at the moment, but I will come back to watch these videos later. Man have I been slacking off as a fan.

Interviewer: Today I would like to talk about what has been going on latey in Morning Musume '14. Well, first of all, everybody seems to be noticing how much Sato-san's concert performance skills have grown. What do you think?

Sato: Um, not really, I don't thi-

Oda: (interrupting) Yes! Definitely a change occurred in Sato-san shortly following Tanaka (Reina)-san's graduation. It is like she is striving to fill the void left by Tanaka-san's departure, or maybe aiming for a similar position in the group. Just to illustrate: Tanaka-san always sings the consonants strongly, and the vowels softly, and this creates her signature rhythm and style of singing which Sato-san is very faithfully trying to reproduce. Even if you ask everyone to simply hum a melody, I can easily tell Sato-san from the rest because of that.

Sato: Actually, at times I feel a little depressed because my voice is so unlike the others.

Interviewer: It is kind of too high, is it not?

Sato: It is. And I talked to the voice teacher and we came up with a plan to emphasize the consonants and just go on laying on the stress like «Bang! Bang!» This is what I am now experimenting with.

Oda: I see, singing aggressively right from the beginning. So that your words really sound sharp and clear.Sato: Right, so if I have to be different because of my voice, al least I want to be different in a good way. It has nothing to do with trying to imitate Tanaka-san, really...

Oda: I understand now.Interviewer: I have to admit I never expected to hear such serious talk from Sato-san (laughs). And what about you Oda-san? Have you been getting accustomed to being part of the group?

Oda: I think so. Recently I have been kind of studying the other members, so hard it even has me worried (laughs).

Sato: Oda-chan always knows what everybody is thinking!

Oda: Not really. Somebody like Ikuta (Erina)-san or Suzuki (Kanon)-san, they are very genuine persons, so when they are stressed or they are happy, all those emotions are on their faces. No deep psychology involved; rather, I just watch and note: so this is how she looks when she feels this way.

Sato: Still, Oda-chan, I think nobody understands all of us better than you do.

Oda: Speaking of which, recenty Ikuta-san and Suzuki-san are becoming really good friends. In the dressing room the two are always together, chatting.

Sato: Very different from us the 10-gen. Somehow each of the four of us is doing her own thing more and more often these days. It does not help that two out of the four are so capricious... and I am talking about A and M here.

Interviewer: A and M?

Oda: I think it stands for (Ishida) Ayumi and (Sato) Masaki.

Sato: Since we are both so temperamental, sometimes we even fight. If the 10-gen members were classmates in school, I do not think we would even talk to each other. Especially not me and Runan (Iikubo Haruna), we would never talk.

Oda: Because you would not even be classmates. Different school years. (laughs)Interviewer: Is there any member, in particular, who you noticed go through a big change recently?

Sato: Asami! Though she always was a hard worker, she has taken in to a new level I think. She is rewatching the videos from our concerts I do not know how many times. I think, she is drawing her inspiration from Sayashi (Riho)-san, or maybe, wants to challenge her.

Interviewer: Or maybe she is in love with her (laughs)

Sato: (ignoring) And, she now talks a lot! And I mean really! In the variety shows, she now always wants to be in front. Completely different from before.

Interviewer: It seems like you are on a course for more and more TV appearances. Your talk show skills are going to be tested.

Oda: Training to become better singers and dancers is something we are used to, but teaching somebody to become an exciting person to talk to is different. It is difficult. When I am watching variety shows now, I try to grasp what makes them work, but... Makes you wish there was something like lessons you could take and turn into a good speaker.

Sato: In fact! I did take a lesson in articulation. I thought, I must prepare, I must be ready to talk on the shows. But the instructor said after the first class, «This girl is good, nothing there to teach her», and that was it.

Interviewer: Whatever you lack in training, Sato-san, I think you more than make up for in raw energy. But somehow you are surprisingly silent on TV?

Sato: Because they would not let me talk. They say, «We turn you loose and god knows what will fly out of your mouth.»

Oda: But I feel it is really valuable to refine those conversation skills. Because you look at how the sempais do the talking and they are very good. Or you watch «Okajo» and it is very funny and good. And it is what we are going to be measured against.

***

Interviewer: How are relationships within the group? If rumors tell the truth, Sato-san is sticking to Michishige Sayumi-san like glue?

Oda: Very true. They are absolutely never apart, or should I say, Sato-san is never far away from Michishige-san.

Interviewer: With Sato-san monopolizing the group's leader like that, do other members feel it unfair? Or slightly boring?

Oda: Hmmmm... But there is a big positive side to it, too. Michishige-san is a group member like us, but she is also this great sempai who has been fighting on for more than 10 years. And sometimes you cannot help but feel hesitant around her, like when you want to talk to her. But not when Sato-san is also there; with her around, everything just clicks together.

Sato: I, basically, I think I just like talking to everyone. It was great that they filmed that dokkiri (※新春豪華どっきり祭り！3時間半SP), because there you can really see how we are with each other, how everyone is a good friend.

Interviewer: Pardon this question, but did none of you... suspect anything at the time? Honestly?

Oda: How were we supposed to?

Sato: Afterwards, everybody was like «I knew something was not right!» But at the time? I had plugged my cell phone into the wall to charge, and it charged all right too. You would never have expected that wall to come tumbling down!

Interviewer: It was impressive how quickly you scrambled up to sing.

Oda: Me, I was pretty quick at realizing it was a dokkiri in progress, so to speak. I think I knew when I saw the audience. So I thought, «Aha, this is what they had in store for us.»

Sato: I was completely dumbfounded, completely! First, Ayumi shirieks «Hyaaaa!» and I think, is something up? But I look at the clock on my phone, it is still early in the morning and I decide to drift back to sleep (laughs), but then I look around and, what? The walls are gone?...

Oda: For one moment it looked like what you would see in a sento, with that great triangular shape of Mt. Fuji stretching all the way across the view.Sato: I gazed at the clouds and thought: «I must be in heaven. I died. Farewell, Mother, I am sorry I cannot be with you anymore...» Then the blasts of music came and I jumped up and «What?! What?!» (laughs)

Oda: They did a remarkable job with the stage. They arranged those pieces of cloth, in our member colors, with a microphone neatly placed on each one; cameras and screens and all; they even labeled the seat aisles. Helpful guys that they are. (laughs)

Sato: It was painfully cold. All I wanted was to stay inside my futon. Or at least put on my socks. But the music is playing. Where are the socks? Or must I look for my microphone first? I was panicking. And all the underwear and luggage was strewn around, too...

Oda: It was something.

Sato: I have been making a point of lifting my hair off my forehead. This is my look. But in the dokkiri they filmed me with my hair down... All the hard work! (laughs)

Oda: They really caught you off guard (laughs)

Sato: To prepare for any dokkiris they may pull off in the future, I had mom buy me 10 new pajamas. Come at me all you want, you will never catch me again wearing such uncool clothes! (laughs)

Interviewer: Ikuta-san was wearing that leopard pajama, was she not? Completely in character.

Sato: She was! Like, «I am so yankii» (laughs)

Oda: It sure was a cold day, too. But we had loads of fun.

Interviewer: All right. So, this year there is a new name for the group, and it feels like everyone is prepped and ready for a big battle: «This is the year we get to the top!» Any final thoughts you may want to share?

Sato: WDMB!Interviewer: Huh? What?

Sato: Will do my best!

Oda: Sato-san has been infected with the acronym disease. She cannot resist calling everything by the first letters. I think we already had a little preview with the «A and M». (laughs)

Interviewer: I see (laughs) Well, so as to not spread the acronym disease around, let us not go much deeper than «WDMB». The question is, you will do your best to ...?

Sato: To remember dates! I am always confused when it comes to dates..

Oda: She comes to you several times every day: «What day is it today?» Or «What day of the week is it tomorrow?»

Interviewer: She did not properly learn about time?

Oda: Or «I know what it is today, but what will it be in two days?...»

Sato: Yeah, it is me! I really want to be able to imagine the calendar in my head. WDMB!

Interviewer: Oda-san, anything you want to add?

Oda: As you said, the group has been renamed «'14». I suppose, a year from now we will be «'15», then «'16», and so on. This means the group that was called «Morning Musume» is now history.

Interviewer: I guess so.

Oda: When people hear about «Morning Musume '14», I mean the ordinary people not fans, they will probably think it is a new group, some kind of a little sister group to the «real» Morning Musume... And, most of us here are actually junior high students, too. What this brings me to think about is the history, the 16 years of history behind this project which will forever remain a very important thing to me. With our current team of ten, we are hoping to propel this group into a new age, but we must not forget we are building on what our sempais managed to achieve.

Interviewer: You want to take pride in both what «'14» is, and what «Morning Musume» was.

Oda: I want us to remain loyal to the memory of «Morning Musume», and maybe the future generations will follow in our footsteps, and who knows, maybe the songs of «'14» will still be there for, maybe, «'37» to sing? So I think what we are trying to create now is extremely important, too. Even though I am currently the one with the least time in the group, I always keep in mind that I am writing a part of this history, too.